Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Our church here in Singapore has been renting space in a complex called the Girl's Brigade because the congregation outgrew the old church. However, the Girl's Brigade is no longer available to us. After much prayer and discussion among the leadership, it was decided to remodel the existing property, in a building called Public Mansion. Well, we are excited to share with you that on June 22st we worshipped for the first time in our newly remodeled space. Here is a picture of the sanctuary. We are so grateful to God for providing the funds that were needed to complete this project. Haleluia!!

Aaron continues to show us new creativity each day. For example, pictured below: the "parking hat".

Now that Danny is out of school for the summer, we have been able to get the bikes that some friends gave us up and running. What an adventure that has been! Here you see Aaron proudly putting on his own shoes (a new development) and wearing his helmet to go for a bike ride.

Aaron and Mommy patiently waiting for Daddy to snap the picture before we can go for our ride.

Daddy just loves cycling around with Aaron on behind. Aaron just loves pointing out all the cars, busses, motorcycles, and just about anything else that moves.

On our bike ride today, we discovered two great parks. Aaron played peak-a-boo from this train.

"Peak-a-boo, Mommy, we see you!"

At a nearby park, Aaron found a playmate who brought a ball with him! What fun!!! Aaron worked so hard just to throw the ball to the other boy. Sometimes it even went the right way!

Another new skill: crawling up the slide. "Why can't boys ever just use the stairs?" chuckles Mommy.

After an exhausting afternoon of bike riding and sliding, Aaron is ready for a bath and bed! His car friends like to join him in both. "Hmmm, how many can I fit in my arms and still make it up the stairs?"

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

First just a couple of photos of the construction that continues in our area:Not sure if you could make out what was going on, but those men are pouring some form of concrete framework, using a bucket-brigade. The man on the bottom right is using a shovel to fill a bucket which is passed up to the man at the top who pours it into the mold!

This past Thursday and Friday the children's ministry department at our church put together a Kid's Camp. We had 17 kids show up at around 10 am on Thursday and leave at 5 pm on Friday! The kids ranged in age from 6 to 12, though most of them were in the older range. It was a wild, crazy time! We had a house that we used for many of the activities and for eating, but we were also directly across the street from a big park. We played lots of games in the park, and we also slept out in tents for the night.

Our theme was, "Where is God?". We made use of the kid's senses to enjoy the wonderful creation that God has made and to teach them more about that creation. Enjoy some pictures:

Here is Danny, the Camp Commandant, introducing everyone to the rules.Carolyn, the head of the children's department, teaching the camp verse, Hebrews 11:3.Kid's making play-do to form animals.Working in their groups.Betsy and Aaron came for a couple hours on Thursday afternoon. Danny was able to take a break and throw frisbees with Aaron. Aaron has a great arm! David Feldberg look out!Aaron is also very neat. He did this all on his own, with no help or prompting from either of his parents!The kids exercise their sense of taste, attempting to identify foods.The kids sharing the things they found while walking the park.Our tents. We actually had just enough tent space for the kids, so the adults slept out under the stars (I think there were at least 5 out that night!) It was an interesting night, nothing like the camping I remember though. Singapore stays hot all night (maybe dropping as low as 70 degrees) so the only reason to use a sleeping bag is to keep the mosquitos off.Before bedtime we took the kids on a walk blindfolded. They were supposed to use their sense of hearing to listen to the sounds of God's creation. It was an interesting exercise trying to keep them walking in a straight path without running over each other!At the end we led them up into the playground and sent them down the slide while still blindfolded!The park we were at was at the far north of the island right beside a shipyard. I have seen many large cargo ships during my time here (like the ones on the right), but this ship on the left was simply enormous, and covered in cranes and other things. I'm not sure what it is for though.On the second day the kids took part in a scavenger hunt. They had to solve 10 clues and run all over the park to get to the proper location. It was raining at the beginning, but by the end the sun had come out again. They were very tired by the end. I think they probably had to cover between 3 and 4 miles by the time they had solved all the clues!Here we are finishing our time with a bit of a debrief.Here is the whole group. We had a lot of fun, but were all ready to go home by the end!Oh, one last note, this was another moment of culture difference for me. I went for this little camp out with my thinking of camping. "It's only one night, I'm going to stink a bit by the end, but we're roughing it, so everyone will stink." But, when it was nearing bedtime the schedule called for bath time! Everyone at the camp took a quick shower and cleaned themselves up. So, by the end I was the only one who hadn't. I didn't really care, but they all tried to stay as far from me as possible!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The last couple of days have been a lot of fun as Danny has been home and able to spend lots of time with Aaron and Betsy. First order of business this summer has been teaching Aaron the great American pastime. Danny picked up this baseball kit from someone who is leaving Singapore. Aaron and Danny both love it!Lots of fun!